Nation At 9: Global economic guru exits, no second term for Rajan

By

NewsX Bureau

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Updated

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18 June 2016

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11:47 pm

India’s central bank boss, the internationally renowned and much loved Dr Raghuram Rajan has ended all speculation about a second term as RBI chief. In a detailed letter to RBI employees, listing out his achievements, Rajan said that he does not want a second term and would like to pursue his first love, i.e., academia.

Now at the surface it might sound as if another globally feted economist wanting to return to his preferred field, but as everyone watching this broadcast knows, Raghuram Rajan’s days were numbered.

The outspoken RBI chief, who is by all accounts the darling of the industry in India and abroad had run into a collision course with the govt with his characteristic straight talk and no-nonsense attitude towards trying to put India’s economy on the right track.

The much-publicised attack by BJP leader and known Rajan-baiter Subramanian Swamy has been well covered by the media. So the big question is, was Rajan, who by all accounts, including the FM Jaitley, was doing a phenomenal job as the central banker forced to quit because of what many are calling highly personal and venomous attacks by Swamy?

Or was Swamy just the conduit of the rage that Rajan was facing? Coming incidentally from higher above the power chain, a couple of statements by Rajan which were more grounded in reality rather than rhetoric seemingly sealed his fate.

And he makes it amply clear in the letter he has written. Now Rajan’s decision has come as a setback to India INC, who were unanimously rooting for a second term, giving him credit for the miraculous turnaround the economy has seen during his tenure, with one leading light, Narayana Murthy, even going on record saying Rajan should get two more terms instead of just one.